In order to further characterize the cardiac hypertrophy that we detected, we quantified the mRNA expression levels (Fig. 2d) of α-skeletal actin (Acta1), a prototypical marker of cardiac hypertrophy, B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), a highly sensitive marker of cardiac pathology/stress, and sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase (Serca2), a marker of cardiac functionality that is decreased in most cases of hypertrophied failing hearts. Here, ACTA1 is linked to cardiac hypertrophy.